Bible Commentaries

Matthew 13:53-58 — Matthew 13:53-58 . Visit to Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6 , cf. Luke 4:16-30 ). In Mk. this is the next section after the parables, deducting what had previously been reported in Mt. (chaps. 8 and 9), a pretty sure sign that our evangelist has Mk. under his eye. We can here

Matthew 18:8 — Matthew 18:8 . χείρ , πούς : mentioned together as instruments of violence. καλόν … ἢ : the positive for the comparative, or ἢ used in sense of magis quam . Raphel and Kypke cite instances of this use from classics. It may be an imitation of Hebrew usage, in

Matthew 20:8 — Matthew 20:8 . ἀρξάμενος : a pregnant word, including not only the commencement of the process of paying but its progress. There is an ellipsis, καὶ ἐλθὼν being understood before ἔως (Kypke). Grotius thinks this does not really mean beginning with the last comers,

Matthew 4:4 — Matthew 4:4 . ὁ δὲ ἀποκ . εἶπεν : Christ’s reply in this case as in the others is taken from Deuteronomy (Matthew 8:3 , Sept [14] ), which seems to have been one of His favourite books. Its humane spirit, with laws even for protecting the animals, would commend it to His mind. The word quoted means, man is to live a life of faith in and dependence on God. Bread is

Mark 1:29-31 — Mark 1:29-31 . Cure of Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15 ; Luke 4:38-39 ). ἐξελθόντες ἦλθον : even if the reading of [2] (participle and verb singular) be the true one, as it probably is just because the more difficult, the implied fact is that Jesus left the synagogue accompanied by His disciples,

Mark 2:12 — οὕτως οὐδέποτε εἰδομεν : elliptical, but expressive, suited to the mental mood = so we never saw, i.e. , we never saw the like. N.B. The title “Son of Man” occurs in this narrative for the first time in Mk.’s Gospel; vide on Matthew 8:20 ; Matthew 9:6 .

Mark 8:23 — Mark 8:23 . ἔξω τῆς κώμης , outside the village, for the same reason as in Mark 7:33 , to avoid creating a run on Him for cures. Therefore Jesus becomes conductor of the blind man Himself, though he doubtless had one (Weiss-Meyer). πτύσας , spitting, in this

Mark 8:30 — Mark 8:30 . ἐπετίμησεν , He threatened them, spoke in a tone of menace, as if anticipating foolish talk περὶ αὐτοῦ about Him, i.e. , about His being the Christ, as in Mt. The prohibition might have a double reference: to the people, to prevent the spread

Luke 15:12 — there were two sons would be one third, the right of the first-born being two portions (Deuteronomy 21:17 ). διεῖλεν : the father complies, not as bound, but he must do it in the parable that the story may go on. βίον = οὐσίαν , as in Mark 12:44 , Luke 8:43 .

Luke 15:8-10 — Luke 15:8-10 . The second parable , a pendant to the first, spoken possibly to the Capernaum gathering to bring the experience of joy found in things lost home to the poorest present. As spoken to Pharisees it is intended to exemplify the principle by a lost

Luke 18:8 — Luke 18:8 . ἐν τάχει , quickly, quite compatible with delay; quickly when the hour comes = suddenly. πλὴν , yet; in spite of the alleged speed, the time will seem so long that, etc. ἆρα , so to be taken (not ἄρα ), as bearing a major force of reasoning, and

Luke 23:12 — prince, and it gave him a free hand in dealing with the matter: nothing to fear in that quarter. μετʼ ἀλλήλωγ for ἀλλήλοις (Euthy. Zig., who also substitutes πρὸς ἀλλήλους for πρὸς ἑαυτούς ). ὄντες after προϋπῆρχον might have been omitted, as in Acts 8:9 , but it serves to convey the idea of continued bad relations.

Luke 8:4 — Luke 8:4 . ὄχλου : Lk., like the two other evangelists, provides for the parable discourse a large audience, but he makes no mention of preaching from a boat, which has been forestalled in a previous incident (chap. Luke 5:3 ). καὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλιν , etc.: this

Luke 9:28 — Luke 9:28 . τοὺς λόγους τούτους : the words about the Passion and cross-bearing. ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὀκτώ : no real discrepancy between Lk. and the other evangelists (after six days). Πέτρον , etc., Peter, John and James , same order as in Luke 8:51 ( [90] [91] , etc.).

John 8:9 — John 8:9 . οἱ δὲ … ἐσχάτων . “And they when they heard it went out one by one, beginning from the elders until the last.” [The words which truly describe the motive of this departure, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς συνειδήσεως ἐλεγχόμενοι , are deleted by Tr. W.H.R.]

1 Corinthians 2:10-16 — 1 Corinthians 2:10 to 1 Corinthians 3:2 . § 8. THE REVEALING SPIRIT. The world’s rulers committed the frightful crime of “crucifying the Lord of glory,” because in fact they have only “the spirit of the world,” whereas “the Spirit of God ” informs His

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 — 1 Corinthians 2:10 to 1 Corinthians 3:2 . § 8. THE REVEALING SPIRIT. The world’s rulers committed the frightful crime of “crucifying the Lord of glory,” because in fact they have only “the spirit of the world,” whereas “the Spirit of God ” informs His

1 John 5:20 — faith is not a matter of intellectual theory but of personal and growing acquaintance with God through the enlightenment of Christ’s Spirit, τὸν ἀληθινόν , “the real” as opposed to the false God of the heretics. See note on 1 John 2:8 . ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ , as the world is ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ .

Revelation 22:15 — tent.”) Here κύνες are not merely impure pagans, but the impudently impure, possibly in the special and darker sense of “sodomites” ( cf. 1 Timothy 1:10 ; Deuteronomy 23:19-20 , collated with πόρνη and βδέλυγμα ). cf. on Revelation 21:8 and Cooke’s North Sem. Inscriptions , p. 68. Such loathsome practices were not uncommon in the Oriental cults.

Revelation 6:3-4 — thus places the Parthian and Roman empires side by side ( τῆς γῆς generally, not Judaea in particular), but the vision of war is also connected directly with the two following visions of famine (Revelation 6:5-6 ) and mortality (from pestilence, 7, 8). The seven punishments drawn up by rabbinic theology ( Pirke Aboth , Revelation 6:11 f.) were: three kinds of famine, pestilence, noisome beasts, and captivity or exile.